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On one side of the piazza stands the fine palace built for Innocent X (Pamphili, i644-i655) by Rainaldi. It was occupied during the Pope's lifetime by his sister-in-law, Donna Olympia Maidalchini, who, for that period, became the most important person of the papal court. She filled the palace with art treasures and, in order to make its exterior still more imposing, Bernini was commissioned to decorate della Porta's fountain, which stood directly in front of the palace. The central figure, called the Moor, was modelled by Bernini himself, and it was sculptured for him by Gianantonio Mari. It is in travertine. The Carrara masques and marine creatures are by various pupils of Bernini. Toward the close of the last century the originals of these side groups, which had become badly disfigured, were removed and replaced by those of the present day, which were sculptured by Amici after the old models. This fountain since Bernini's time has been called the fountain of the Moor. The fountain at the other end
went from the earliest times by the name of the Fountain of the Scaldino, probably because of the shape of the small vase in the centre which resembled a classic scaldino or brazier. It can be seen in an engraving by Piranesi, for the fountain was left undisturbed until the close of the last century when the Scaldino was removed and replaced by the figure of Neptune. This figure was carved by Bitta Zappala from a model of Bernini's found in the Villa Montalto. The figures around the edge are Zappala's own, and they as well as the Neptune are of Carrara. All this wedding-cake decoration has spoiled the original effect of della Porta's work, and the best that can now be said for the side fountains is that they are in harmony with the fountain in the centre. In justice, however, to the genius of della Porta and to the taste of an earlier day, an attempt should be made to think of these fountains without their more modern excrescences. It is a pity that the Roman municipality has found it necessary to surround them with a high iron fence. If these fountains could be left free like the side fountains in the Piazza del Popolo their charm could be and would be much better appreciated.
In the centre of the piazza, immediately opposite the church, Bernini erected for Innocent X the Fountain of the Four Rivers. The obelisk of red Oriental granite which surmounts it was brought from the Circus of Maxentius, and tipped with the bronze dove and olive-branch, the emblem of the Pamphili family, to which Innocent X belonged.
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